Το πρώτο self-driving… βανάκι

Η Waymo, θυγατρική της Alphabet, παρουσίασε το νέο της self-driving αυτοκίνητο, βασισμένο σε ένα Fiat Chrysler minivan.

Ο CEO της εταιρείας, John Krafcik παρουσίασε τις πρώτες εικόνες του οχήματος στο προσωπικό του blog την Κυριακή. Aναφορικά, η Fiat Chrysler Automobiles αναπτύσσει το συγκεκριμένο όχημα από τον Μάιο.

Το minivan είναι ένα «πειραγμένο» Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. H Waymo έχει ένα στόλο 100 τέτοιων οχημάτων, τα οποία θα δοκιμάσει και στην πράξη το 2017.

Waymo's graduation from X came after it scaled back some of its loftier ambitions. The early vision was to build automobiles as well as software — but that has been dialed back to focus on creating self-driving features for other vehicles.

The company is being headed up by chief exec John Krafcik, who came on board in 2015 after working for Hyundai.

The new minivans will be tested on public roads in areas where Waymo has already been trialling its self-driving tech, like Austin, Texas and Metro Phoenix, Arizona.

"As we get fully self-driving cars ready for the road, we’ll need more types of vehicles to refine and test our advanced driving software," Krafcik wrote. "With this great new minivan on the road in our test markets, we’ll learn how people of all ages, shapes, and group sizes experience our fully self-driving technology."